Next week: General Motors earnings, Fed policy meeting and the government's first Q4 GDP estimate

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A look at some of the key business events and economic indicators upcoming next week.

GM results

General Motors reports its fourth-quarter financial results on Tuesday.

Wall Street expects the Detroit automaker earned $1.82 per share on $44.6 billion in revenue. In the third quarter, GM earned $3 billion in profit as its revenue soared 10% to $48.8 billion. GM shares jumped 10% on that report, to more than $53 each.

Fed rate pause?

The Federal Reserve wraps up a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.

Most analysts expect the U.S. central bank will leave its benchmark borrowing rate alone after cutting it at three straight meetings to close 2024. Citing global economic uncertainty and still-sticky inflation, Fed officials last month cut their forecast for 2025 rate cuts from four to two. That could mean that borrowing costs for consumers and businesses will remain elevated this year.

Eye on economy

On Thursday, the Commerce Department issues its first estimate of U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter.

Analysts forecast that the U.S. economy expanded by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Despite elevated interest rates and inflation that remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, the U.S. economy has remained resilient, thanks partly to strong consumer spending.

GDP, percent change, seasonally adjusted annual rate, by quarter:

Q3 2023: 4.4

Q4 2023: 3.2

Q1 2024: 1.6

Q2 2024: 3.0

Q3 2024: 3.1

Q4 2024 (est.): 2.3